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Monday, February 28, 2011

My Appalachian Ancestors

When I think of the Appalachians, I think of the Long Family. We always had the story in our family, told by my great grandpa Long, that his great grandfather traveled the Cumberland Gap to get to Eastern Kentucky. After researching this family, I found they had lived in Grayson Co., Virginia, Ashe Co., North Carolina and Russell/Wise Co., Virginia.

William Long Sr. was the first of my Long ancestors to come to Appalachian area. It has been said he was German. He was born 1755 in Augusta Co., Virginia. He served in the Revolutionary War from Rockingham Co., Virginia. He came to the Appalachian area of Washington Co., Virginia by 1782 {tax list}, in 1794 he was on Grayson Co., Virginia tax list. In 1798 he bought 100 acres on Peach Bottom and Elk Creek near Point Lookout Mountain in Grayson. 1799-1821 he was on Grayson Co. tax list and census. In 1822 he died, age 66. He left a will that named his 11 children. My ancestor was his 6th born child, Samuel Long.

Samuel Long had bought 120 acres on Peach Bottom Creek from his father in 1818. Samuel had married Mary Cornett in 1811 in Grayson Co., Virginia; by 1818 they had 4 children. In 1821 Samuel was willed land known as The Wilson Place and property to amount to $70.00 from his father. Samuel and two of his brothers were in court in 1820 for breaking the peace and fighting with a neighbor. Samuel bought 190 acres on Rock Creek in 1837 from Samuel Phipps {another one of my Appalachian ancestors}. By the 1840 census Samuel was living in Ashe Co., North Carolina. He made a will and died in Ashe Co. in 1843. He names his 11 children. My ancestor is Levi Morgan Long who was sometimes called Morgan Long.

Levi Morgan Long was born 1818 in Grayson Co., Virginia. He was raised in GraysonCounty and at the age of 22 moved with his father to Ashe Co., North Carolina. He is on the 1840 Ashe Co., North Carolina census with his wife and first born son. He married Elizabeth Lawrence, probably in 1839; Long researchers have not been able to find the marriage record. After Samuel’s death the family including his siblings and his mother, moved to Russell Co., Virginia {I think it was Clintwood, the part that later became Wise, and later Dickenson}. They lived there until the time of the Civil War. There was a story printed in Montgomery Co., In. magazine were my Great- Grandpa tells the story of how his Father, Grandfather, and Great Grandfather left Virginia. The article says when Wilburn's father was just a boy, the family which was Wilburn D. and Jane with their two boys, Joseph Henry and James Milton, and Levi Morgan and the rest of his family crossed over the Cumberland Gap to Kentucky in ox- drawn sleds. The road was dirt, which was often mud, and the sleds could be pulled through mud. There were robbers rampant in the heavily forested mountain pass then and the travelers had to take great care. Levi’s sons, Wilburn D., Henry and Joel and their uncle, Joel D. Long signed up with the Union. There was a battle at Mud Creek, Floyd Co.,KY. And Wilburn D. was wounded, crippled for life; Joel Jr. and Henry were killed. Wilburn D. applied for a pension but was denied as they said he wasn’t on the rolls. Elizabeth applied because of the death of her son, Joel Jr., and was denied; they said he was a deserter. Levi is found next on the 1870 and 1880 Paintsville, Johnson Co., KY. In 1900 he was on census in Montgomery Co., Kentucky living with his oldest son, Wilburn D. Long and his family. Levi Morgan and Elizabeth had 9 children. They are not found after the 1900 census. Wilburn D. Long, their oldest son was my ancestor.

Wilburn D. Long

Some of his story is told above. He was born 1840 in Ashe Co., North Carolina, he was only 3 when his grandfather died and not long after that the family moved to Russell Co., Virginia. He was raised in Russell/Wise Co., Virginia. He married Martha Jane Haynes {another Appalachian ancestor} on Feb. 13, 1859 at the age of 18. On 1860 he is on Wise Co. census living next door to his parents and other relatives. He and Martha “Jane” had their first child on Dec. 1859. They named their son, Robert W. after her father, Robert Haynes, and the W. was probably Wilburn. Robert died in Wise Co., Virginia when only 3 months old, in March of 1860, of hives. Nine months later they had another child in Wise County, Virginia and they had one more child in Wise in March of 1862, my GG grandfather, Joseph Henry Long. The story is told above about how they left Virginia. Wilburn D. and Martha were in Paintsville, Johnson Co., KY. When he applied for pension, by 1870 they were in Floyd Co., KY. In 1880 and 1900 they were in Montgomery Co., KY., the 1880 census says Wilburn was crippled by gun shot wound. He was a school teacher {to my great grandpa} in Montgomery Co., KY., This is what he says on his pension: invalid Pension Application:
State of Kentucky, County of Johnson, on this twenty ninth day of December one thousand eight hundred and sixty six personally appeared before me, of the county court, a Court of Record within and for the County and State the aforesaid, Wilburn Long, aged 27 years, a resident of the county of Johnson in the state of Kentucky who being duly sworn according to law, declares that he is the identical Wilburn Long who volunteered in the service of the United States at Pikeville in the state of Kentucky on or about the 12th day of August in the year 1863, as a private in Company commanded by Caption Alfred Killen an officer in the 45th Regiment of Kentucky in the war of 1861 and was wounded at Little Mud Creek in Floyd Co., KY. on or about the 10th day of February in the year 1864, this was while in the service of the aforesaid, and in the line of his duty it being in battle with the enemy as aforesaid, and as follows, he was one of a post of Louisa, Kentucky to discover the exact whereabouts of a force of the enemy then reported to be coming from southwest VA. into KY. that they met the enemy in a force of about 160 in number on the 15th of Feb. in Floyd Co., KY. where a battle was being fought in which he received a musket ball in his left thigh breaking the bone about 4 or 5 inches from the upper joint and another musket ball through his right hip above the joint causing the same to be weak and injured. He also received two shots in the head but no permanent injury from them. He never registered into U.S. Service he was wounded before his company was fully mustered. That since leaving the said service this applicant has resided in the County of Johnson in the state of Kentucky and his occupation has been teaching a small country school in the winter it being light labor. That prior to his entry into the service above named he was a man of good sound physical health, being when enrolled a farmer and earning his subsistence by his said occupation. That his habits have always been uniformly good and temperate. That he is now three fourths disabled from obtaining his subsistence from manual labor in consequence of his above named injuries, received in the service of the United States. He makes this Declaration for the purpose of being placed on the Invalid Pension Roll Of the United States, by reason of the disabilities above stated, and revoking and countermanding all other authority that may have been given, he hereby constitutes and appoints with full power of substitution and revocation? Bennett of the city of Washington his true and lawful attorney irrevocable, to prosecute his claim and obtain the Pension Certificate that may be issued. That his Post Office is at Paintsville in the County of Johnson in the state of Kentucky.
Commonwealth of Kentucky
County of Johnson
On this 29 day of December 1866 personally appeared before me the undersigned authority in and for our county aforesaid Joel D.Long, Wilburn Reedy, and William H. Henley whom certify to be respectable and untitled to credit and who being sworn in due form of law say that they know that Alfred Killen was recruiting men for the 45 Ky. Vol. U.S. Army in the summer or fall of 1863 and on into the winter that Wilburn Long was one of his recruits duly sworn as other recruits were, that he did service for 5 or 6 months with said Killen often under the direction of the U. S. Officers from Louisa, KY., that this Wilburn Long was on duty under directions from the commanding officer at post of Louisa, Kentucky Colonel George W. Gallup, 14 KY. Inft. On the 15th day of February 1864 when a battle was fought with the enemy in Floyd Co., KY. In which battle he was wounded by several balls from the enemy breaking his left thigh bone near the upper joint and some other wounds. These wounds were received while he was in the line of duty he being in the battle with the enemy. The circumstances which lead to this were as follows, he was one of a squad of 20men sent out by Colonel George W. Gallup of 47 Ky. Inft. Their post of Louisa, KY. To discover the exact whereabouts of a force of the enemy then reported to be coming from SouthwesternVA. Into KY. And which force they met as stated above in Floyd Co., KY. When said enemy were met , the battle was fought in which he received the wounds aforesaid. We further say except William Henley that we were members of the same squad of twenty men and know the facts above detailed to be true. That we have no interest in the ? of Wilburn Long. And we are not related to him except that witness William Henley is an uncle by marriage to the claimant’s wife. Witness Joel D. Long is the claimants Uncle.That witness Wilburn Ready is not related at all to the claimant They further say that they were well acquainted with the claimant for five years before he was wounded and know him to have been a man of sound physical health and claimant up till the time he was wounded that his present disability is caused by his wounds received as aforesaid. The witnesses Joel D. Long and William Henley say they have been acquainted with the claimant for twelve or fifteen years and know that during that time he was a sound healthy man. They also say that Alfred Killen the officer under whom they were recruited and were serving was killed in the battle by the enemy on the 15th of February 1864.
Joel D. Long
Wilburn Ready
Willliam Henley
Sworn to and subscribed before me by Joel D. Long, Wilburn Reedy, and Wm H. Henley the day as above written and I certify that they had the above were members of the squad that Wilburn Long in his statement above which they have heard read and sworn their own personal knowledge say that Wilburn Long was in the service as there stated was in a fight in Floyd Co., KY. On 15th of February 1864 and that he received several wounds one of which broke his left tight bone, that he was recuited in that battle and in the line of duty he being in battle with the enemy at that time and that the statement above made by Wilburn Long is true and correct and that we have no interest in this matter of his pension claim.
Joel D. Long
Wilburn Reedy
William H. Henley

Martha and Wilburn D. Long had a total of 14 children. They are last found on the 1900 census. I know Martha was deceased by 1907, and Wilburn was living in Kentucky, as their son, Joseph Henry Long, put that on his marriage application, to his second wife in 1907.

Joseph Henry Long

He was born March 1862 in Clintwood, Wise County, Virginia. He was just a baby when the Long family made the trip down the Cumberland to Eastern Kentucky. He was raised in Eastern Kentucky, Floyd and Montgomery. In 1884 he married Lucy Conkright {another Appalachian ancestor}. In 1903, Joseph Henry and Lucy left Kentucky with their 9 children, the youngest just a small child. My great grandpa was 15. They traveled by wagon to Montgomery Co., Indiana. Lucy became pregnant in 1907 at the age of 40. They had lived in Indiana only 4 years, and she died in childbirth. My great grandpa, Wilburn Long Sr., married in Montgomery Co., Indiana on Dec. 1, 1906 to Merttie Powers. Her family came around 1900’s to Montgomery Co., Indiana from Menifee Co., Kentucky. Her family had roots in the Appalachians as far back as Wilburn’s did, I will write about her family later.

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About Me

I have been researching my family and my husband's family for some time now. In my research I have been able to trace most of our families from England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Moravia, Germany, Holland and Switzerland. The first were the colonial New England families on my dad's side, and the Appalachians and colonial Tidewater Virginia on my Mom's side, we have French Huguenots to New Amsterdam and Pennsylvania, Anabaptist, Quakers,Mennonites, Puritans,Baptist, Methodist,Presbyterians, Lutherans, Moravians. Most of our ancestors came to Colonial America and helped start towns and build churches, fought in all the wars. I also have paper trails to European Kings, and have 8 of the 25 signers of the Magna Carta along with King John, that were ancestors of my colonial American English ancestors, no way to know if it is true, as being that far back there could be a child born out of wedlock, but as far as paper trails go, I do have that.I'm going to use this blog to tell their stories and maybe to get help with my brick walls.